Ore classifier



July 18, 1961 A. M. PHIEPEN 2,992,740

ORE CLASSIFIER Filed Oct. 2, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Av M. PHIPPEN ORE CLASSIFIER July 18, 1961 3 Sheets-:Sheet Filed Oct. 2, 1959 A. M. PHIPPEN July 18, 1961 ORE CLASSIFIER 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 2, 359' IN V EN TOR. firm/010 M P/i/PPEA ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,992,740 ORE CLASSIFIER Arnold M. Phippen, Lakewood, Colo. (1550 Depue St., Denver 14, Colo.) Filed Oct; 2, 1959, Ser. No. 844,126 19 Claims. (Cl. 209-316) This invention relates to an ore milling apparatus and, more particularly, to a classifier and conditioner for washing, grading and classifying crushed ore or sand prior to the concentration of the values therein.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a highly efficient classifier for rapidly, continuously and economically supplying clean classified ore or sand particles of accurately graded mesh to conventional concentrating machines so as to greatly increase the efficiency of the concentration steps in ore milling operations.

Other objects of the invention are: to provide means in the classifier for rapidly and continuously removing the fines from. the feed being processed so as to prevent the formation of the slimy pulps which usually interfere with eificient concentration; to provide means for the removal of oversized particles before they enter the main screening and scrubbing areas so that the screening and scrubbing can be directed only to particles of the proper mesh for subsequent concentration; to provide a highly efficient screening, scrubbing and classifying apparatus which will be dynamicaily balanced so as to operate with a minimum of vibration, and which, though comparatively small and compact, will have a relatively great capacity; and to provide a classifier of the class described which will provide a maximum amount of attrition grinding of the particles to expose the mineral values, which will operate upon a minimum amount of Water and which if necessary will be found useful for dry operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which will combine a powerful mixing action and fluid flow in correct balance to clean all particles for accurate specific gravity, wet or dry processing, classification and concentration, and which will combine an intensive mechanical agitation with a hydraulic action for high recovery and closer quality control of several specific gravity materials.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efiiciency. These will become. more apparent from the following description. 1

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawings and throughout the description.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the improved ore classifier;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view thereof;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross section therethrough taken on the line 3--3, FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view on the scale of FIG. 1, looking downwardly on the line 44, FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary horizontal section, looking downwardly on the line 55, FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged detail section taken on the line 6-6, FIG. 5; and 1 FIG. 7 is a similarly enlarged detail section taken on the line '74, FIG. 5.

The improved ore classifier and conditioner is preferably mounted upon a semi-portable supporting frame consisting of two runner-like longitudinal frame members 10 joined in parallel spaced relation by means of suitable cross frame members 11. An engine housing 12 at the rear of the bed frame encloses a power plant such as an engine or motor of any suitable conventional type. A motor shaft 13 extends forwardly from the power plant to transmit power, through suitable gears in a gear box 14 to a horizontal crank shaft 15 journalled in bearings 16 on the longitudinal frame members 10..

Four arcuate raceways 1-7 are fixedly mounted in spaced circular relation on the frame members 10 and 11 forwardly of the horizontal shaft. The raceways 17 are arcuate in plan so as to form spaced portions of a circumferential path about a common center. The upper surface of each raceway is arcuately concave in circumferential direction, as shown in FIG. 7, and is inclined downwardly and outwardly in a radial direction as shown in FIG. 6.

A conical bearing roller 18 rolls upon the concave, inclined upper surface of each of the raceways 17. The rollers 18 are rotatably mounted, in any desired manner, upon the extremities of radial shafts 19 which radiate in equal spaced relation from a concentrically positioned post sleeve 20 which acts to uniformly position all four rollers in their respective raceways.

A cylindrical tank 21 is supported upon the bearing rollers 18. The tank 21 is closed at its bottom by means of a circular bottom plate 22. Four similar arcuate bearing plates 23 are concentrically secured to the bottom plate 22 of the tank so as to position one of the bearing plates over each of the bearing rollers 18. The lower surfaces of the bearing plates are inclined downwardly and inwardly to correspond to the angle of the conical surfaces of the bearing rollers. The inclined surfaces of the raceways 17 and the bearings plates 23 coact with the conical surfaces of the bearing rollers 18 so as to automatically center the tank 21 about the axis of the post'sleeve 20.

A first arcuate chamber, which will be herein designated as the coarse discharge box 24, is formed on and extends substantially about the lower portion of the tank '21 at one side thereof, with its bottom lying sub stantially in the plane of the tank bottom plate 22. The top of the box 24 is closed by means of an arcuate top plate 25 and a coarse spout 26 discharges through the arcuate outer wall of the box 24 from adjacent the upper portion thereof and in substantial horizontal alignment with a horizontal, arcuate mesh screen, herein designated as the coarse screen 27,-mounted in the box 24 in spaced relation to the bottom thereof. A water overflow tube 28 and oversized fines discharge pipes 29, controlled by suitable. gate valves 30, open through the bottom of the oversized box 24-.

A second arcuate chamber, which will be herein designated as the fines discharge box 31 is formed on and extends substantially 90 about the lower portion of the other side of the tank 21 with its bottom, shown at 32, positioned below the plane of the tank bottom plate 22. The fines box 31 is also provided with an arcuate horizontal screen, herein designated as the fines discharge screen33, of finer mesh than the coarse screen 27. The fines discharge screen 33 is positioned below the plane of the tank bottom plate 22 and an oversized fines discharge spout 34 discharges through the arcuate outer wall of the fines box 31 from a point immediately above the screen s3 33. A second water overflow tube 35 and an undersized fines discharge pipe 36, controlled by a suitable gate valve 37 communicates through the bottom 32 of the fines box 31.

An annular screen trough 38 project radially outward and upward from, and completely surrounds the upper peripheral edge of the tank 21. A cylindrical weir ring plate 39 separates the interior of the tank 21 from the interior of the trough 38. The weir ring plate 39 is provided with a plurality of horizontally aligned ports 40 and is secured to the tank 21 by any suitable verticallyadjustable attachment means 41. An annular relatively coarse grizzly bar screen 42 is fixedly mounted in the trough 38 adjacent the top of the weir ring plate 39 and throughout the circumference of the trough. An annular wire mesh screen 68 is fixedly mounted in the trough 38 below the grizzly bar screen 42 and inclines conically inward and downward to a position below the weir ports 40. The trough is provided with a plurality of bottom discharge pipes 43, controlled by suitable gate valves 44.

A tubular center post 45 is vertically and axially welded or otherwise fixedly mounted in and sealed to the tank bottom plate 22 and extends downwardly through the post sleeve 20, to receive a water supply hose 46, and upwardly to a position above the top of the screen trough 38 where it terminates in an inverted-cup-like cap 47. The post 45 is provided with upper water jet openings 48 within the cap 47 and with a plurality of lower water jet openings 43 therebelow.

An annular inclined wall plate 50 is supported on and surrounds the periphery of the tank bottom plate 22 and extends conically outward and upward to and joining with the cylindrical wall of the tank 21 adjacent and around the bottom thereof. The inclined wall plate 50 is provided with outlet ports 51 which communicate with an outlet passage 52 communicating with the fine discharge box 31. Four radial partition plates 53 divide the area enclosed by the wall plate 50 into four quadrants. Each partition plate is provided with a plurality of notched openings 54 adjacent the tank bottom plate 22 which provide communication between the quadrants.

A circular screen 55 surrounds the center post 45 in the plane of the coarse screen 27 in the coarse discharge box 24 and is supported by the radial partition plates 53. A circular coarse grizzly bar screen 56 is fixedly mounted in the tank 21 in vertically spaced relation to the screen 55. A coarse discharge passage 57 communicates through the wall of the tank 21, between the screens 55 and 56, and with the interior of the coarse discharge box 24. Similar upper coarse discharge passages 58 communicate between the interior of the tank 21 and the coarse discharge box 24 above the circular bar screen 56.

A circular inclined lower scrubbing plate 59 extends conically inward and downward from an attachment to the wall of the tank 21 to a circular throat opening 60 about the center post 45 above the circular bar screen 56. A circular upper scrubbing plate 61 is fixedly mounted on and adjacent the top of the center post 45 and extends conically outward and downward to a circular discharge edge above the annular screen trough 38. A plurality of annular concentric bafiles 62 of varying diameter are 'welded to and project upwardly from the upper scrubbing plate 61 in radially spaced relation. Each of the baifies is provided with a plurality of horizontally elongated, vertically narrowed underfiow slots 63 in its lower edge.

A reciprocatory rotation is imparted to the tank 21 in any desired manner to cause the bearing rollers to roll back and forth up the arcuate sides of the arcuately concave depressions in the upper surfaces of the raceways 17 to impart a combined vertical and circumferential oscillation to the tank and its attached elements. As

illustrated, this reciprocatory rotation is imparted from crank pins 64 eccentrically mounted in crank discs 65 fixed to the extremities of the crank shaft 15. The crank pins 64 are positioned diametrically opposite each other so that when the crank shaft is rotated, one pin will be moving forwardly while the other is moving rearwardly and vice versa. A connecting rod 66 extends from each crank pin 64 to a suitable universal joint connection 67 at a side of the tank 21. Thus, it can be seen that as the power plant rotates the crank shaft, the entire classifier mechanism will continually rotate forwardly and upwardly and then rearwardly and upwardly upon a path defined by the contour and depth of the concave depressions in the upper surfaces of the raceways 17 and the length of the throw of the crank pins 64. The latter throw can, of course, be made adjustable by any of the conventional crank throw adjusting devices, if desired.

Operation The invention is, of course, adaptable for any desired use upon any suitable material. For the purpose of description, it will be described as operating upon crushed, mineral-bearing ores.

Let us assume that the water supply hose 46 has been connected to a suitable pressure source and that a crushed or supply has been arranged to deliver the ore to the center of the classifier over the cap 47. The crushed ore will fall upon the cap 47 and will then be caused to travel radially outward under the influence of the combined centrifugal and vertical vibratory forces of the oscillations above described. During its travel over the upper scrubbing plate 61, the ore will be subjected to a scrubbing action by the water from the jets 48 and to a preliminary classification, since the fines will pass through the slots 63 and the coarse particles will travel over the bafiles 62. The fines will flow over the edge of the plate 61 through the bar screen 42 to the wire mesh screen 68. The undersize fines will pass through the screen 68 and be immediately removed from the ore flow to prevent interference with further washing and classifying. At intervals, these first undersized fines are removed through the valves 44. The oversized fine travel through the weir ports 40 to the lower scrubbing plate 59. The oversized coarse particles from the top of the bar screen 42 overpass the weir ring plate 39 and also drop to the lower scrubbing plate 59.

As the ore particles travel down the lower scrubbing plate 59, they are subjected to an intense scrubbing action by the water jets from the lower jet openings 49. This scrubbing is highly efficienft due to the fact that there has been a preliminary classification at the screen 42 so that the fine and coarse material travel in more or less separated paths.

The washed ore particles now drop through the throat opening 60 upon the bar screen 56'where they are subjected to relatively violent centrifugal and vertical vibratory forces. This subjects the ore to further scrubbing and attrition quickly separating the coarse from the fines and delivering the oversized to the coarse discharge box 24. Any adhering fines fall through the screen 27 and the oversized pieces are discharged from the coarse spout 26. The fines recovered in the coarse discharge box are collected at intervals through the valve 30 and the excess water with any micron size particles or valueless material splashes over and into the overflow tube 28.

The finer particles passing through the bar screen 56 are again classified by the mesh screen 55. The oversized fines are passed to the oversized discharge box 24 through the discharge passage 57 and the undersized fines drop to the bottom of the tank where they are subjected to a scrubbing action by the partition plates 53 and then flow through the outlet ports 51, and the outlet passage 52 to the fines discharge box 31 onto the screen 33. The screen 33 quickly passes the oversized fines to the discharge spout 34 and the undersized to the discharge pipe 36 and the water overflow tube 35.

Thus, it can be seen that a clean accurate classification can be rapidly made between the coarse particles, the

means oversized fines particles, the undersized fine particles, and the micron size particles and waste.

The partition plates swing rapidly back and forth about the axis of the center shaft and act as agitating paddles on the material on the tank bottom plate swishing the soluion back and forth through the notched openings 54 and upwardly oh the inclined wall plate 50 to provide a perfect fluid suspension of the solid particles without allowing settlement thereof.

While a specific form of theimprovement has been described and illustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An ore scrubber and classifier comprising: a tank; a coarse discharge box; a fines discharge box, said boxes being mounted on opposite sides of said tank adjacent the bottom thereof; a horizontal circular screen positioned in said tank in vertically spaced relation to the bottom of said tank; a first passage communicating between said coarse discharge box and said tank above the plane of said screen; a second passage communicating between said fines box and said tank below the plane of said screen; means for introducing water into said tank; means for introducing ore onto said screen; and means for imparting an oscillating rotation to said tank about a vertical axis.

2. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 1 having a second screen mounted in said coarse dis charge box positioned to receive oversized ore from said first passage and a coarse overflow spout receiving oversized ore from the upper surface of said second screen.

3. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 2 having -a third screen in said fines discharge box positioned to receive undersized ore from said second passage; a second overflow spout receiving oversized material from said third screen; and means for discharging undersized ore from below the screens in each box.

4. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 3 having a circular scrubbing plate positioned in said tank above said screen, said scrubbing plate inclining axially inward and downward to a concentrically-positioned open throat positioned to feed ore to the midportion of said screen.

5. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 4 in which the means for introducing water comprises: a tubular post extending vertically and axially through said tank and provided with water jet openings above said scrubbing plate.

6. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 5 having means for passing ore into said tank about the periphery thereof and onto said scrubbing plate at the circumference of the latter.

7. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 5 having an annular trough supported by and surrounding the upper edge of said tank and an annular weir plate separating said trough from said tank so as to cause ore to overflow said weir plate onto said scrubbing plate about the entire periphery of said tank.

8. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 7 having an annular fourth screen positioned in said trough below the overflow of said weir plate to separate undersized from oversized ore before the latter passes onto said scrubbing plate.

9. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 8 having an upper second scrubbing plate supported by said tubular post above said tank, said second scrubbing plate being conically inclined outwardly and downwardly to a circular discharge edge positioned over said trough so as to direct ore into the latter about its entire circumference.

10. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 9 having additional water jet openings formed in said i d tubular post above said second scrubbing plate for supplying water to the latter.

11. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 10 having a plurality of circular upstanding baffles concentrically attached to the upper surface of said second sci iibbing plate in radially spaced relation and provided with slots adjacent said second scrubbing plate for the passage of finer ore, the coarser ore overflowing said baffles as it moves radially outward.

12. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 11 having a circular cap mounted on the upper extremity of said tubular post for directing ore radially outward onto said second scrubbing plate.

13. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 3 having a relatively coarse circular bar screen supported in said tank in vertical spaced relation to said horizontal circular screen and a third passage communicating from said tank above said bar screen with said coarse discharge box.

14. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 8 having a relatively coarse annular bar screen supported in said trough above said annular fourth screen and arranged to discharge oversized ore into said tank and undersized ore to said fourth screen.

15. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim- 12 having a first relatively coarse circular bar screen positioned above said circular first screen and a second relatively coarse annular bar screen positioned above said annular fourth screen, said bar screens acting to protect the screens therebelow from large oversized ores.

16. An ore scrubber and classifier comprising: a tank; a coarse discharge box; a fines discharge box, said boxes being mounted on opposite sides of said tank adjacent the bottom thereof; a horizontal circular screen positioned in said tank in vertically spaced relation to the bottom of said tank; a first passage communicating between said coarse discharge box and said tank above the plane of said screen; a second passage communicating between said fines box and said tank below the plane of said screen; means for introducing water into said tank; a tubular center post mounted in and extending vertically and axially upwardly and downwardly from the bottom of said tank; a plurality of shafts extending radially from said center post below said bottom; a conical bearing roller rotatably mounted on each shaft at equal distances from said tubular post; a bearing plate mounted beneath said tank bottom over each roller and transmitting the weight of the tank thereto; a supporting frame; a raceway mounted on said supporting frame beneath each heating roller and receiving the weight therefrom; and means for imparting an oscillating rotation to said tank about the axis of said tubular center post to cause said bearing plates to roll circumferentially back and forth on said rollers so as to cause the latter to roll circumferentially back and forth on said raceways.

17. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 16 in which the upper surfaces of the raceways are circumferentially and arcuately concave so that the rollers will rise vertically as they approach the opposite extremities of the raceways to impart a vertical movement to said tank in combination with the oscillating rotation thereof.

18. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 12 having a plurality of bearing plates mounted on the bottom of said tank in circumferential relation to said tubular center post; a conical bearing roller positioned below each bearing plate and receiving the Weight of said tank; a supporting frame; and a raceway mounted on said supporting frame beneath each bearing roller and receiving the weight therefrom, the up er surfaces of said raceways being circumferentially and arcuately concave so that the bearing rollers will rise vertically as they approach the extremities of said raceways to impart a vertical. movement to said tank in combination with the oscillating rotation thereof.

19. An ore scrubber and classifier as described in claim 18 having bearing shafts mounted on and extending radi ally from said tubular center post below said tank, said bearing shafts being equally spaced circumferentially, each of said bearing rollers being rotatably mounted on one of said shafts at a common radial distance from said center post.

, References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS:

Pingel Mar. 6, 1894 Thurston ,Aug. 28, 1906 Beck Oct. 11, 19 49 Koziol Aug. 7, 1951 

